Vince Chadwick writes… Manic, hilarious, inspired, fearless, genuine Felicity Ward holds the wherewithal to pull off this most unlikely premise. The comedian always loved Christmas specials on T.V. and wondered why they couldn’t be on all the time. So she commandeered her own fiefdom at the North Melbourne Town Hall and set about recreating Christmas [...]

Freelance writer Meghan Lodwick writes… Two lone chairs sat on a blank stage which I later discovered was the appropriate backdrop for talent so ripe minimalism was key to let the two actors shine. This Is Siberian Husky debuted at the 2011 Melbourne International Comedy Festival and now Simon Godfrey and Dan Allemann—the duo behind [...]

Vince Chadwick writes… There is no denying that there is something intrinsically funny about the keytar. The Keytar Kid aka Mr Brady aka John Nelder plays on its phallic elements at one point, which might be a bit of a stretch – but see, there you go! An absolute artefact of the 1980s, the two [...]

Freelance writer Meghan Lodwick writes… I was alone which was perhaps a problem as I may have thrown off the act. But did I? The performer did, after all seem a tab bit amateur. This is the problem when attending Melbourne Fringe, anyone can enter, anyone at all, as long as you have a story [...]

Freelance writer Siobhan Argent writes… I don’t spend hours listening to music unless I’m running a marathon (every second day), at a concert or at a bar (so, pretty much the same thing). In Al Newstead’s case, it seems these periods are not enough. Several people in the audience for Al’s Music Rant were wondering [...]

Freelance writer Siobhan Argent writes… After the success of his show A Study in Scarlet (A Study Of) last year, Rob Lloyd’s Who, Me has continued the fictional-character exposition with an exhibition on obsession. Lloyd is a self-confessed Who fanatic, indoctrinated in his early uni years and a helpless contributor to the BBC’s cash-cow ever [...]

Freelance writer Meghan Lodwick writes… When you eat candy it should be taken in moderation, when you go and see Candy B, the same rules apply. Australian Booty, written and performed by Candy Bowers—aka Candy B— was a mediocre performance with snippets of funny, but in the end the curvaceous beauty should have left the [...]

Dr Toby Halligan is not a Doctor sounds like it is an inwardly reflecting hour of comedy, in which Toby looks at his life, makes jokes about his problems with ADD, and invites the audience to laugh at his ‘failings’ at being gay. It is all of these things, but in addition, there’s regular interjections [...]

Dressed in a smart waist-coat and a striped tie, Simon Taylor presents a practised and polished performance to kick of the 2011 Melbourne Fringe Festival. Over the course of his show you will come to appreciate his love of psychology, as he takes you through the way we experience morality, happiness, language and love. There’s [...]